The present invention relates generally to monitoring systems, and more particularly, to a method and system for use in dynamically configuring a data acquisition system to accept and implement new and revised measurement configurations.
Many known data acquisition systems are implemented for monitoring of industrial equipment, including industrial machines and their components. Signal-generating components, such as sensors and transducers, are typically positioned on, or are otherwise positioned to be closely associated with, points of interest of the machines. The signal-generating components generate and transmit various signals representative of real-time machine conditions. Such signals facilitate providing data and information to operators to manage the condition of the machine, e.g., to maintain the machine within predetermined operating parameters. Also, for example, this information may be used to schedule machine repair outages or to alter machine operating conditions to maximize performance, efficiency, or machine life.
Many known industrial machines are placed into service for extended periods of time and are typically maintained in service until demand for the service subsides, or for maintenance activities. During operation of such industrial machines, the data information used to monitor the conditions of the machines may need to change based on emergent reasons, e.g., a desire to change the measurement parameters and/or to add measurements to the monitoring scheme. The measurement parameters that may be changed are, e.g., the data sampling rates, warning and alarm setpoints, and whether the data is integrated or not with other data.
Also, in many known data acquisition systems, traditional approaches to incorporating changes to existing monitoring parameters and/or adding additional monitoring points includes programming a new revision of firmware, testing the firmware on a test platform, removing the affected industrial equipment from service, and installing the firmware within the associated data acquisition system. Such approaches are time-consuming, resource-consuming, and require production with the affected industrial equipment to be temporarily curtailed.